Gypsy
by FutureErotic
Summary: Tom Riddle was evil, of that I was absolutely sure. I had realized this the moment I was first sorted into my house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and looked over at the entire sneering table of Slytherin students. WARNING MATURE READERS ONLY PROBABLY A DARK STORY, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
1. Chapter 1

**First year **

**Age: 12**

Tom Riddle was evil, of that I was absolutely sure. I had realized this the moment I was first sorted into my house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and looked over at the entire sneering table of Slytherin students. The sheer hatred I felt coming from that table had shocked me, my innocent mind unable to understand exactly why they were glaring at me. It did wonders to hurry me to my seat at the yellow and black table; about five steps from the table something wrapped around my ankle and sent me careening into Jennifer Bones, another first year sorted before me. The impact on the stone floor wasn't nearly as painful as the hysterical laughter that came from the green house; thankfully I could only hear a small amount of laughter come from my own table.

"O—oh gosh, I am so sorry." Stammering like a fool, I rolled off my slightly dazed housemate, her bright red hair making me think for a moment she was bleeding.

Several of the older students helped me and the uninjured Jennifer up, before plonking us down at our seats, probably to avoid another commotion. Turning a furious red, I glanced over at the still tittering table of snakes. A young boy, probably a first year like me, was being slapped on the back by several of the older students. He didn't smile at them or even acknowledge the praise; he just stared at me, green eyes burning holes into mine.

"Don't mind him," said a third year to my right, "just another Slytherin trying to prove themselves." He flashed me a dazzling smile and held out his hand, "I'm Jeremy Bones; you knocked over my little sister."

I shook his hand, still a little too embarrassed to look him in the eye properly.

"Antoinette Zima, s—sorry about that, I don't know what happened…"

Jennifer sent me a smile that instantly showed the two were siblings, if I had any doubts that is.

"It's ok; they probably used a tripping hex, nasty things." She leaned forward, "are you a Muggleborn?"

"What do you mean?"

She smiled and leant back, "Muggleborn means that you have two non-magical parents."

It confused me a little that something like that would actually be a question. But before I could ask why it mattered Jennifer forged ahead, Jeremy just smiled and shook his head ruefully.

"Pureblood means that you have two magical parents, who come from a long line of all magical beings, and then there are halfbloods; I don't think I need to explain what that means."

"Yeah, I'm a Muggleborn."

Jennifer smiled widely at this reaching across the table and grabbed my hand. "That's great; I have never really met a Muggleborn before. My whole family is Purebloods and mother doesn't let us socialize outside our class; I can tell we will be great friends."

She sent me a smile so bright that I instantly returned it, albeit a little shyer.

Jeremy coughed, drawing our attention back to the head table. A slightly round man with a stern look about him and a pointed white beard raised his arms, the entire hall went silent.

"Greetings, I am Headmaster Dippit and I welcome you all back to Hogwarts." He smiled briefly at the Ravenclaw table. "Now that you have had a chance to meet your new house members, I would ask for you all to stay seated while enjoying the magnificent feast that has been prepared for us."

Myself and several of the first years frowned in confusion, we could neither see nor smell any food.

Dippit lowered his arms and the aroma of roasting meat, sizzling vegetables and gravy invaded my nose. On each of the tables food had appeared, mountains of it out of thin air. Gaping for a second, I knew without looking that Jennifer was almost as shocked as me; I reached for one of the nearby bread rolls. Students all around me were piling up their plates, but I took a second longer for my situation to sink in.

Mother had been struggling to get enough food for myself and my siblings to eat; so it was almost a blessing when Professor Dumbledore arrived to tell my mother about my magical abilities. She had assumed for a moment that it would be one more thing she couldn't afford to give me, but then the Professor told her about a school scholarship program. I knew that there was no such thing, had seen the look in the Wizards eye when he walked into our one bedroom flat in London, and knew he had made some exception for me. But I didn't tell my mother, I didn't want to not get a chance to go to this magical world where I would have adventures and become something more than another starving orphan.

"You going to eat or what?" Said Jeremy, startling me from my day dreams.

I let out a laugh, unwittingly catching the attention of a certain boy a table over. "Yeah, sure."

Grabbing my plate I piled it high with food; if Jenifer and Jeremy were at all surprised by the amount I ate at the feast they didn't say anything. All too soon the meal was finished and so was desert, for the first time in nearly a year I had a full stomach that I could actually rest my hand on.

"Wow, never seen a girl eat that much."

Laughing at her brothers words, Jenifer quickly agreed.

"Yeah, I thought for a second there you might burst." We all giggled wildly at the image of me popping.

Headmaster Dippit's voice broke through the loud chattering in the hall, "Silence." He waited a moment before continuing, "Before I send you all off to bed with full stomachs, I must remind you all of a few rules. Firstly, there are to be no students out after dark, secondly under no circumstances are any persons aloud in the Dark Forest without supervision or permission… Now, would the heads please direct the first years to their dormitories."

All the students stood and started towards the entrance.

Jeremy practically jumped out of his chair, "Alright I'll see you both tomorrow." And with a cheery wave he was gone.

Laughing Jennifer grabbed my hand, pulling me towards where the Hufflepuff head was calling for first years. In the hustle I accidentally let go of her hand, instantly losing my only friend in the crowd. Hands shoved me all around, until I finally tripped into the middle of a small circle of boys, they must have been waiting for the hustle to die down before moving.

"Well, if it isn't the little Hufflepuff fool," sneered a blond boy, his pointed chin and long nose looking down on me.

"Careful, don't let the Mudblood touch you, might get infected." The low drawl came from behind me, spinning around I locked eyes with the young Slytherin who supposedly cast the tripping hex.

"Mudblood?" I edged towards the gap I could see in the circle; before I could get there a burly second year crossed his monstrously big arms and blocked my way.

All around us the rush was still going on, making it difficult for me to hear the cruel boys.

"It means dirty blood, you are a blight on the wizarding world and don't belong here." The black haired boy sounded almost bored, as if I were beneath his notice. I might have believed it had his eyes not shone with disgust, as if I would suddenly infect him with some deadly disease.

"I—I belong here, Professor Dumbledore told me I'm magical."

The blond boy gripped the front of my second hand robes, his anger obviously overriding his desire to not touch me.

"You are not magical, you're an abomination." His hands tightened for a moment before releasing me, almost tossing me from their circle and back into the crowd.

Before I was pushed forward I heard the black haired boy say something that chilled me, I barely understood exactly why they hated me so much but I understood this comment.

"Make sure she never forgets what she is."

My hand unconsciously rubbed my wrist where I had numbers and a single letter tattooed; I could never forget what I was.

**Ok Antoinette is a gypsy who was obviously a part of the Porajmos, the attempted genocide of the Romani people of Europe during the Second World War. I know that Riddle's time at Hogwarts won't totally coincide with all this but I really wanted to try and put a historical twist into the story, I am learning about the Porajmos as I write so if I get anything wrong about the horrific act or the Romani culture in general please tell me and I will re-write. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Second Year**

**Age: 13**

Sobbing I ran behind one of the pillars overlooking the Lake and fell to the ground, the only people around were the ones who had just finished their daily game of 'Make Antoinette miserable'. As usual it was silently led by the seemingly kind, to everybody but me, Riddle. For over a year now I had endured the constant insults about my 'dirty' blood, and how I was going to be eradicated along with the rest of my kind. At first the insults hadn't really gotten to me, having endured much worse at Dachau.

But then it slowly escalated from Malfoy's, as I came to call the blond boy, constant name calling, to curses and hexes. Riddle was never one to cast the curses himself, seeming content to simply watch me make trip after trip to the hospital wing to be healed. The mediwitch still didn't suspect anything was afoul, assuming that I was simply another clumsy Hufflepuff.

"Oh Tony, what did they do now." Lanky arms came around me, Jeremy tucking my head into his chest as he sat down nest to me.

Jeremy and Jennifer were my closest friends in Hufflepuff; thankfully the hatred towards my blood only went so far as the Slytherin house and perhaps a few Ravenclaws. It was the fact that I was singled out, and in effect any who associated with me, that made me unpopular within my own house.

"Why do they hate me so much, Jeremy?" I unclenched my hands and showed him the damage, Goyle had cast a nasty little pus hex that left my hands in agony. The white pulsing lines and boils that the hex left behind showed in start relief against my tanned skin.

Hissing in anger, Jeremy grabbed his wand and muttered a quick spell over them. The boils stopped popping up, but it would take a few days for them to disappear. He was amazingly talented at healing spells; I knew he would become an acclaimed Mediwizard one day. I wasn't so good at spells, preferring to spend my time learning about the plants and animals in the world.

"Ignorance." He kissed the top of my head, a brotherly gesture but I blushed anyway. "I don't understand why you won't tell Dippit what's going on, or at least Dumbledore."

Sighing, I tested out my injured hands, finding I could move them without too much pain. "You know why."

"They would believe you if we showed them what those bastards have done to you," ground out Jeremy.

"We both know Riddle would come up with some excuse, telling them I often worked with dangerous plants and animals and that's where I got the injuries." For all his faults Riddle was brilliant, "then he would make himself look the victim and me the evil witch."

Jeremy didn't say anything, he didn't have to, we both knew that Riddle would get off without punishment.

"I know Dumbledore thinks something is off about Riddle. Have you seen the way he watches him?"

"Yeah, I do wonder what all that is about."

We had been over this conversation several times, even toyed with the idea of spying on Riddle to get the evidence we would need to see him punished. But in the end we were Hufflepuffs, it was best to leave the scheming up to those snarky snakes.

"I was wondering where you two snuck off to," Jenny rounded the corner, her freckled cheeks rosy in the winter air. "Tony, what happened to your hands?"

Storming forward the Hufflepuff who often seemed better suited for Gryffindor, grabbed my hands and forced me to show her the marks. "Bloody hell, I'm going to kill those bastards."

Jeremy mocked a gasp, "What would mother say about your language?"

Poking out her tongue, Jenny released my hands. "I know exactly what she would say, 'Jennifer Aurora Bones, young ladies do not use language like that. You will never find a husband speaking like that.'"

Laughing I stood up, feeling a little resistance when Jeremy seemed reluctant to release me, but he soon copied.

Suddenly the mood sobered and Jenny's face fell into a mask, I didn't have to guess who was walking past us.

"Blood traitors," hissed Malfoy at Jenny and Jeremy, "wait until I inform your mother about the compony you keep."

He glared at me; cringing I backed slowly into Jeremy; he put a comforting hand around my waist.

"Get some new material, Malfoy. You told my mother about my 'compony' last year; what's wrong, is your inbred mind having trouble remembering facts. I wouldn't doubt it, considering your academic record." If there was one thing Jenny could do it was cut a person down.

Malfoy turned bright red as some of his followers tittered behind him, brandishing his wand he snarled, "You will wish you had never been born."

Jenny yanked out her wand, "trust me, with a mother like mine I already do."

Jeremy wasn't helping his sister, he didn't need to. Jenny was one of the best duellers in our year, a fact Malfoy had obviously forgotten as she quickly disarmed him.

Spluttering, he backed up a step.

"Anyone else?" tauntingly, Jenny flourished her wand, some of the younger snakes backed up with Malfoy.

Throughout this entire exchange, a set of eyes hadn't left me.

"You don't have the right to look at Tony, Riddle." Jeremy had noticed the silent Slytherin watching me, so he pushed me behind him.

Smirking, Riddle tilted his head. "You can't be around to protect her forever, sooner or later you will leave this school and then she will be all alone."

Jeremy was shaking; I soothingly ran a hand down his back like I might do to an irate owl. Shockingly it worked, beneath my hand muscles visibly relaxed and quickly lost their aggression. Riddle watched the exchange with thinly veiled interest, quirking a brow when he observed the furious badger calm down in a matter of seconds.

"Just get out of here." Jeremy didn't bother saying any names, all the Slytherins in Riddles posse knew he meant them.

Rather than edge his followers on, Riddle instead inclined his head and walked away, his men glaring back but leaving as well.

"That was weird," Jenny lowered her wand, having expected more of a fight.

Jeremy and I mumbled 'yeah' at the same time, blushing when we met the others eyes. Snorting in an unladylike manner, Jenny linked her arms with ours and marched us towards the Great Hall.

"Come on lovebirds," we blushed again, "time to get some dinner."


	3. Chapter 3

**Third Year**

**Age: 14**

"Don't you think he is a little old for me?" Jenny snorted at my question and sunk into a chair next to me, the library was quite full so we were whispering.

"My brother is anything but old, besides, you know he is crazy about you." She elbowed me in the side playfully, although thanks to her growth spurt and my lack of one she hit me more in the upper ribs then lower.

Sighing, I grabbed one of my favourite books _'Taming that mystical beast that doesn't want to be tamed'_, and flipped over to the chapter on Thestrals. Jenny took one look at my page and rolled her eyes, preferring to twirl her wand between her fingers than read.

"I don't understand why you would want to find a Thestral," she flicked a finger onto the picture, "they look like flying skeletons."

Poking my tongue out I pretended to snap her finger in the book, earning me a yelp from her and a 'shh' from the librarian, Madam Flippard. Hiding a giggle with one hand, Jenny continued twirling her wand until it seemed to pass like a blur through her fingers.

"I happen to think Thestrals are magnificent, you wouldn't understand."

"You're right, I wouldn't." Jenny glanced at the pile of books I had on magical animals, "I'll never understand your fascination with animals."

"That's ok; I don't really get your love of spells."

At this Jenny laughed quietly, "A witch who doesn't like spells."

I smiled absently. It wasn't that I didn't like spells; it just seemed every time I tried anything but the most basic, something went horribly wrong. We were quite for some time, both content with what made us happy, until I glanced over a sentence I had read many times before.

_**The magnificence of a Thestral herd cannot truly be admired until viewed in the wild. However because of their less than appealing appearance, Thestral's are now nearly extinct in the wild. The only herds known being in the forests surrounding Hogwarts School of Wizardry and the Bulgarian Mountains.**_

"Do you want to help me find one?"

"What?" Jenny stopped her twirling.

"Thestral's, a herd lives in the Forbidden Forest." I knew I would eventually be compelled to go with or without Jenny, it was impossible for me to resist finding any type of animal once I knew where its habitat was.

"It's forbidden for a reason, Tony." Jenny didn't often show a voice of reason; it must be an off day for her.

"Please, we both know I'll go by myself if you don't come with me."

She chuckled, pointing her wand at me playfully. "If you promise to do everything I say."

"Of course," smirking I stood, "Come on."

Grinning wickedly Jenny followed me; nobody looked up as we walked out of the library. The older years were all too busy studying for their OWLS and the younger ones were trying to keep up with the homework load the teachers insisted helped with preparation for OWLS.

As always the Castle was quite cold, Jenny murmured a heating charm over us both as we walked into the waning light.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Huffed Jenny, stumbling along the path, she always seemed to have trouble seeing in this light.

"Yes, the Thestrals live quite near the edge of the forest, something about the bark from Blood Trees." We walked down past the gamekeeper's cottage, thankfully he wasn't around to catch us step into the forest.

"Blood what now?"

"Blood Trees, fascinating things," my voice quickened in excitement, "Whenever the sun goes down they glow a faint red."

"They drip blood?" She sounded slightly disgusted, but didn't stop.

Around us the trees became slightly denser, making it harder for us to move. My magic naturally reached out to connect to the nature around me, and somehow I avoided every rabbit hole and tree branch that my companion nearly tripped over.

"It's like blood," a faint glow of red was in the distance, "look!" Excited I grabbed Jenny's hand and hastened towards the glow. She followed my every step; I could sense anything around us that might cause a trip up.

We stepped into a clearing, all around giant black pines stood tall, red blood dripping from them. Next to me Jenny gasped in both disgust and amazement, I hardly noticed though. All around us were horse like creatures, made of bone with thin black skin stretched over them. They were beautiful it a way I wasn't sure I could truly appreciate until now.

"So where are the Thestrals?" asked Jenny, looking around.

'_**Only those who have been touched by death or seen it's result are able to see the mighty Thestral.'**_A passage from one of my books, I hadn't really believed until now that Jenny or Jeremy would be unable to see these creatures if I showed them to them.

"They are here…" I blinked back tears, "only those who have seen death can see the creatures."

Jenny was silent for a moment, and then took my hand. She and Jeremy were the only ones who knew about my past; even I could barely remember it and my mother went through great pains to ensure that we were never linked to our Gypsy heritage. They hadn't believed me when I told them about the Nazi concentration camps, thought I was making it up, because what kind of people could do that to another. In the end I pointed out to them the links between the persecution of the Jewish, Gypsy, Blacks and basically anybody who wasn't a Nazi; and how the Muggleborns were seen by so many Purebloods and Halfbloods.

"Describe them to me."

Jenny always knew what to say to make me feel better, so sitting down in the clearing with skeletal horses all around us, I told her how they moved and that while they were cursed with death, they weren't at all evil or to be feared.


	4. Chapter 4

**(I know Riddle released the Basilisk in his fifth year; sorry I had to change some things around.) **

**Forth Year**

**Age: 15**

Muggleborns everywhere were terrified, myself included. So far two Gryffindor's, one Ravenclaw and four Hufflepuffs had been found paralysed, all were Muggleborns and none had been cured yet. Un-surprisingly no Slytherins had been injured, it was either because there were no 'dirty' students there, or the perpetrator was in that house… in hindsight it was probably both these reasons.

"Still around then," a silky voice came from behind me.

Startled I dropped the pen I was holding, it rolled onto the floor. A pale hand picked it up, but didn't pass it back to me. Knowing this wasn't going to end well for me unless I escaped in the next ten seconds, I grabbed the mirror I had started carrying around with me and shoved it into my pocket. The classroom was mostly empty around us; it had been converted into a sort of mini-library, after students became too frightened to go into the actual library. Three of the seven students had been found there, stiff in chairs and almost always near the petrified body of a ghost.

"Yes," sliding back on the chair I stood, a hand shoved me back onto the chair.

"Please, stay." Riddle's tone brooked no argument. He gracefully settled against the table, barely disrupting the mountains of books I had piled up. "Researching something?"

"No," I refused to give him anything to torment me about.

"Hmm," he plucked a book at random from my table, "'Ancient creatures and their Origin'."

_Of course he would have picked that one_. Snatching the book away, I hugged it to my chest. Riddle frowned, his fingers rubbing where our hands had briefly brushed.

"Interesting choice, any reason in particular to read a book like this?" He flicked imaginary lint off his shoulder, I would be a fool to think he would be here speaking to me if it wasn't of some import to him.

"No." Tom Riddle was the kind of Slytherin who used others to do his bidding; his followers must be doing something important for him to stoop to speak with me.

"I am starting to understand why even the lowest Hufflepuff deigns to not spend time with you." He smirked, "not very good at conversation, are we?"

My blush was enough to confirm his comment. At this moment there were three Hufflepuffs in the classroom, they had all noticed me and all chose to put their books on the spare chairs next to them, just encase I chose to sit next to them. I had learnt long ago not to try and make friends.

"Please leave me alone." He smiled at me and for a moment I blushed for an entirely different reason. I would have to be a fool not to at least acknowledge Tom Riddle's features; it was easy to see how he had everybody fooled. Even the teachers fell for his 'perfect' student act, we only had potions together and I was forced to watch Professor Slughorn dote on him.

Frightened when he just kept staring at me, I tried to hop up again. A strong hand wrapped around my wrist in warning, pressing with enough pressure to make me wince. From the outside it must have looked as if Riddle was holding my hand, but they would only have to look in my eyes to see the stark terror.

"Not yet," his finger tip swirled around my furious pulse, "first tell me why you are carrying around that mirror? It seems every I see you that mirror is flashing in your hands."

"I—I," unconscious to the movement, my hand wrapped around it, finding comfort in the cool metal.

"And why the sudden fascination with ancient creatures, and don't tell me it's because you have a fascination with animals," sneered Riddle.

"Well I do!" I almost slapped a hand over my mouth, shocked I had the guts to snap at him. The hand holding me tightened, and his other one started twirling his wand through his fingers. The threat was clear.

"Tell me what you know."

In that moment something occurred to me, Riddle knew what was attacking the students and he must have been watching me to realize that I had figured it out.

"It's a Basilisk; the students are being attacked by a Basilisk." Tom blinked in surprise, meaning he probably hadn't really expected me to know at all. "T—the mirror is to look around corners, for some reason it is only attacking Muggleborns."

"How do you know?" hissing, he grabbed my arms and yanked me up. Nobody stopped him or probably noticed when he moved us out of sight behind a bookcase. "How is it a Mudblood Hufflepuff figured out what even the great Dumbledore cannot?"

Back pressed against hard shelves, and an enraged Riddle holding me against it, I did the only thing I could… Told him everything.

"I—I read about them last year. About how they can grow to enormous size, paralyse and in most cases kill with their gaze." I knew I was rambling off facts, but was too scared to do anything else. "T—they come from a chicken egg you know, hatched under a lizard…" I trailed off; Riddle's face had slowly gone from angry to curious and now amused.

"And why haven't you informed any of the teachers about this?" He let up on my arms a little. I was tempted to run but knew better.

I had told Professor Catti, head of my house, but he just laughed it off and patted me on the head then walked away murmuring 'women and their ideas'. I probably wouldn't have been offended if he hadn't believed me because I was not exactly the smartest witch around, but to not believe me because I was female was just rude. I hadn't dared tell any other teachers, knowing that they wouldn't believe me.

"Don't bother," said Riddle as I opened my mouth to answer, "your face says it all. You tried to tell them, but who is going to believe a poor little scared Mudblood, who can't even cast a simple _Lumos _spell without setting something on fire." I wanted to point out that I had only set our charms professor on fire once in first year, but it was pointless. "So you walk around with a mirror, people must think you're batty checking every corner," he smiled at the thought. "But why bring the mirror into one of these sore excuses for a library, surly you are safe here." Riddle was testing me, taunting me with what I knew.

"Because I know that somebody in Slytherin must have something to do with this, only somebody who can speak Parseltongue can command a Basilisk." His eyes darkened again, but I made myself spit the words out. "The rumours are probably true, and a descendent of Salazar Slytherin is in Hogwarts. A—and that person is probably one of the many Slytherins who hate me, so I figured that if they were going to start killing people, they would probably start with me…"

Riddle and I both knew that it was him who was the descendent, he was commanding the Basilisk and he was the only one who could stop it, which was why I hadn't told Dumbledore on him. Eventually Riddle would be faced with either stopping the snake, or watching Hogwarts be closed down, already whispers were going around that it could happen any day.

"Maybe you aren't a dumb as everyone believes." My jaw almost dropped, a complement from Tom Riddle!? "But don't worry Zima," he leaned in close to whisper, "I'm sure the heir is just waiting until all your friends are dead, and you are blaming yourself for being too much of a coward to stop him…or her."

The truth in his voice made me quake, but I had to believe that he wouldn't let it come to people dying and the school shutting down. Nobody could be that evil at our age.

For a second Riddle stayed with his face near my hair, the darkness of his probably putting mine to shame. A puff of breath hit my neck,_ is he smelling me?_ , then he calmly stepped back and walked away, leaving me shaking and hopeful that he would finally stop the attacks. After all, if a simple Hufflepuff could figure it out then so could a teacher, especially one as great as Dumbledore.

…

Three days later a Ravenclaw Myrtle Boggs was found dead in the first-floor girl's bathroom, she had fled in there to escape being teased. I had watched her flee from the Great Hall, had seen her being teased many times, but had been too frightened to help her.

…

One day after that a third year, Rubeus Hagrid, was accused and sentenced for the crimes, and the fearsome creature (an Acromantula) escaped into the Forbidden Forest.

…

Only a day later Jenny and Jeremy found me sobbing in the first-floor girls bathroom, and for the first time since I met them I couldn't bear to tell them the truth. That I was a coward and ultimately caused the death of an innocent girl and the expulsion of another innocent student, all because I didn't try hard enough to make people understand the evil person that was Tom Riddle.


	5. Chapter 5

**Fifth Year**

**Age: 16**

"I wish you didn't have to leave," I murmured staring at the platforms wooden floor.

A hand lightly cupped my jaw and raised it, Jeremy smiled down at me. _My darling, kind Jeremy._ We were about to board the train to take us home at the end of my fifth year, and my boyfriend's last year at Hogwarts. Jenny had snuck ahead to scope us good seats on the train, giving us some privacy to say goodbye now, rather than later.

"It won't be so bad, you still have Jenny." Said Jeremy trying to lighten the mood, but I could see the tears in his eyes as well as he could see them in mine.

Sniffling I cuddled up close to his chest, he was soft and warm and always smelt like home to me.

"How am I going to cope without you to cast simple spells for me, keep me from falling over… hold me when everything becomes too much." The arms around me tightened at my last words, we both knew that Riddle and his gang would torture me mercilessly.

"Listen up; I wanted to give you this." Jeremy eased me from his arms, and passed me a pamphlet.

"'_**Beauxbatons Academy of Magic'**_?"

Smiling, he opened it for me. "See here, they do exchanges with students for their sixth year. Mother is insisting that Jenny go and learn how to be a 'real lady'." Pausing for a moment, a sign I knew meant he was nervous. "She got accepted into the program."

"I—I'm going to be totally alone for a year?" fresh tears ran down my face, I was losing my two best friends.

Laughing Jeremy wiped my tears away and kissed both my cheeks, "No you silly girl. You are going with her."

"W—what, how?"

"We have it all sorted out, Dumbledore agreed and all. All you have to do is turn up at the international Floo at the right time with your trunk packed."

I gaped for a moment, then laughed and grabbed Jeremy around the neck. He was quite tall compared to my five foot nothing, and swung me around like it was nothing. Then something occurred, "what about paying for it?"

Jeremy knew that I was poor, but maybe he didn't understand the severity of the situation.

"Dumbledore took care of that."

"But—" I began.

"No buts," he shushed me with a quick kiss, "Dumbledore has seen what you go through, and believes you deserve a chance to start again… even if it's only for a year."

"What about you?" We were already barely going to get to see each other next year if I was in England, if I went to France then we would never see each other.

"I'm going with you, Mother arranged for me to take up a simple clerical job at the French Ministry of Magic; she wants me to keep an eye on Jenny."

This time I nearly screamed in joy, grabbing onto Jeremy as tightly as I could.

"I love you." We had whispered the words to each other in our few heated moments, but never in public and where people could hear. But without fail Jeremy said the words right back, kissing the top of my head as it was the only part he could reach.

"The Mudblood and the Traitor, how… classic" the sleeky voice broke through our moment.

Jeremy turned with a snarl, "Riddle."

And typically, there to ruin our moments as always was the ever perfectly coiled Heir of Slytherin himself, this time only Malfoy was with him.

"My, my, so angry today Bones." Eyes so dark blue they could be black met mine, "could it be because your little pet will be all alone next year with only your sister to protect her."

I knew Jeremy would tell him about France, but I refused to give Riddle the satisfaction of knowing where his favourite torture victim would be going. "Come on Jeremy, let's go." I almost never spoke when Riddle and Malfoy were around, so Jeremy took notice. Looking down into my eyes and reading the message he gave me a small smile and nodded.

"Yes, lets."

Then much to the chagrin of Riddle and his one man posse, we ignored the blond aristocrat's taunts, and hopped onto the train to join Jenny. Confident in the knowledge that next year would be the best year of our lives.


	6. Chapter 6

**Year six**

**Age 17**

The sun was always warm here; I loved everything about Beauxbatons, but mainly the beautiful weather.

"He was furious, you know?" said Jenny; she was relaxed on the grass next to me.

"Who?" yawning, I turned on my side and faced her, she did the same.

"Riddle," replied my friend. I startled, having hardly thought about my old tormenter in the whole six months we had been here, it was a bit of a shock to hear the name.

"What was the pompous ass, furious about?" having no real clue or care.

"You." At this I nearly choked on air, but she continued. "Yeah, we ran into him at one of Mrs Malfoy's many events, mother is always trying to push me on that boy." Jenny and I knew it was pointless for her to even try, a few months ago I had found Jenny and our roommate Francesca lip locked on her bed. It had been a friendship defining moment for us, but I understood better than most that persecution for what you are is wrong. Sadly not all were as accepting as me, and they had to keep their relationship a secret. Personally I couldn't think of a better match for fiery Jenny than the cool and calm Francesca, they complemented each other perfectly. "Anyway, I was getting some punch and Riddle suddenly showed up attached to the arm of that horrible Parkinson creature." We both shuddered, Parkinson was a pointy nosed shrew at seventeen, and god only knew what she would be like at thirty. "He was as surprised to see me as I was him, I would have gotten away without having to acknowledge him but mother showed up and almost demanded an introduction."

"Let me guess, he charmed her into telling him where I was hiding."

Jenny snorted, "Mother has no idea you are here with me. Riddle only asked how many students were on the exchange and she said two, it didn't even take him a second to figure it out." She winced at me, "I have never seen him lose his composure so quickly. Do you know, he actually turned to me and yelled 'are you telling me that Mudblood is at Beauxbatons!?' "

"Gods," I had never heard of Riddle losing anything other than a quill.

"Yeah, mother pretty much dragged me away after that. She was pretty mad that I hadn't told her to were here with me, thankfully Jeremy calmed her down quick and convinced her to let me come back here after the break." We laughed; knowing that no matter what Jenny would have found her way back here. She sobered up quickly, "there was one other thing… Riddle asked me to tell you that he'll be seeing you next year."

Jenny looked worried, she was never worried. Gulping I reclined back on the grass, it suddenly felt a lot less warm.

"You're coming back with me next year, right?" my voice was small and scared; I hadn't sounded like that in a very long time.

Jenny gripped my hand tight, "Wild Thestrals couldn't keep me away."

**Ok that is it for the year jumps, it will now be Antoinette's seventh and final year from here on out. Another warning PLEASE READ this story is probably going to be pretty dark, so please don't bitch and moan about how much you don't like what I write, because unless it is constructive I DON'T GIVE A DAMN. But I do adore you all, and thank you for reviewing and liking this story. **

**Xoxo**

**Future**


	7. Chapter 7

I had forgotten how magnificent Hogwarts was, Beauxbatons had an undeniable beauty, but the towering battlements of the French school couldn't compare to what I was seeing. Great spires made of stone reached towards the sky, higher than I remembered, while the Lake reflected the night's sky in an eerie but romantic way. Fog was flittering down from the mountains, obscuring each carriage if it got too far in front.

"I'm sorry we had to come back here," said a forlorn Jenny. She was speaking as much for herself as for me, leaving Francesca had been a difficult moment for her.

I didn't bother replying, we both already knew I was dreading the return. Thankfully the fact that we were 'nobody' Hufflepuffs should protect us from any questions; we would simply slink back into the everyday life of Hogwarts.

"I wish Jeremy were here." I sounded like a love sick fool, but it didn't matter. Jeremy and I had a wonderful year in France; our relationship had only blossomed with the romance of the countryside.

"He will visit as often as he can," consoled Jenny. The Ministry of Magic in France seemed reluctant to allow him to transfer back over to England, so for the moment he was far further away from me then I would have liked.

Smiling I looked around, this year I was shocked to see that the carriages were being pulled by Thestrals. Unsurprisingly most of the students hadn't even realized, I only told Jenny when she asked what I was staring at.

As we neared the castle I tried to stifle the butterflies in my stomach, I was excited for my classes like Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, but many of the others I dreaded. Beauxbatons was a school that prided itself mainly upon the creation of skilled and dutiful witches, Jenny and I both knew it was so they could marry them off and produce more of magical blood, but it wasn't really an issue. The Headmistress Cara had been delighted at my aptitude for taming creatures and recognizing plants and their correct uses, she likened me to a 'Nymph'. Unlike the Muggle versions of sultry females who required sex as a source of energy, which is a total farce; the legends of Nymphs were that they could calm and control any animal they wished, using their knowledge of plants and wildlife to hide themselves from the outside world.

"Come on Tony," grabbing my hand, and breaking me from my thoughts, Jenny dragged me from the carriage and into the castle. We were momentarily held up when Malfoy noticed us; absently I noticed that he had somehow grown into the pointy face, he looked every inch the elitist racist. He seemed to freeze in shock at the sight of me, blocking our way for only a moment and opening his mouth as if to speak, then hurrying off without saying a word.

"That was weird." We watched his blond head move through the throngs of people, but I didn't stay interested enough to watch where it stopped.

Jenny nodded, but we were quickly hustled into the Great Hall and our chairs, eager for the feast that Beauxbatons just didn't provide.

There were a few surprised faces at seeing us, apparently there had been a rumour going around that we had been kidnapped by Muggleborn haters and tortured to death. Jenny seemed almost proud of the rumour, I was a little more sedate as I was reminded of one of the reasons I left.

Next to me Jenny was distracted recalling all the 'adventures' we had while in France, so I turned my head quickly to get a glance at the Slytherin table.

Black eyes met mine, set in a face that was so darkly beautiful that I gaped for a moment. Over time I was in France, I had somehow forgotten how truly stunning Tom Riddle was. I didn't have to look around to know that most of the female population of Hogwarts was staring dreamily at him. He wasn't looking at them though; he seemed almost stuck in a staring contest with me. If not for a flicker in his eyes, turning them red for a split second, I might have forgotten how disgustingly evil he was.

_Time to practice my sneer_. Curling my lip, just like Francesca taught me, I looked at Riddle and then his entire gang dismissively. Job successfully done, going by the twitch in his otherwise emotionless façade, I spun back around and smiled at my fellow Hufflepuffs.

"Good evening students, first of all I would like to welcome back Jennifer Bones and Antoinette Zima, who were with our sister school Beauxbatons for the duration of last year. Please feel free to ask them any questions about their trip." Dippit, who somehow seemed even older, straightened his hat. "Now please join me in welcoming our first years to Hogwarts." He gestured towards the Great Hall doors, which opened dramatically to allow a group of first years to walk nervously down towards the podium. Job done, Dippit sank back down into his seat at the teachers table.

"God I missed this," Jenny bounced excitedly on her chair as the first student, a young boy, was sorted into his house.

"Gryffindor!" Shouted the hat, much to the jubilation of the Lion table.

"Don't they have houses at Beauxbatons?" asked Emma Tongs, a seventh year we used to share a dorm with.

"Not exactly, everybody has their own year, but each year is kind of like their own house." I replied, fiddling with a fork at the table.

"So the different year levels don't really interact."

Jenny smiled, "nope."

"That must be great," exclaimed Emma, she was one of the few Hufflepuffs who believed anybody older to be boring, and any younger to be foolish.

"It's ok I suppose." My friend frowned for a moment; I knew she was remembering Francesca who had been a year older than her.

The sorting continued.

"Hufflepuff," I gave the obligatory clap as a freckled girl sat down.

"Oberon Black, Slytherin." The green table both smirked and clapped, probably pleased to have another Pureblood in the ranks.

And finally… "Jessica Flog, Ravenclaw."

Having missed most of the sorting, I looked around quickly. It was a pretty even sorting this year, as per usual most of the students went into Gryffindor, with Hufflepuff a close second, then Ravenclaw and unsurprisingly Slytherin coming last as they only accepted Pure or Halfbloods.

Instead of making another speech, Dippit just raised his arm once and food appeared.

"Boy he really lost interest in the job." I teased, not worrying about it at all as mountains of food appeared.

"And thankyou god, for no snails." Exclaimed Jenny, must to the disgust of our housemates.

We both piled our plates high and dug in, having thoroughly missed the delicious food Hogwarts offered.


	8. Chapter 8

The morning couldn't have come quick enough for me; I had to endure almost the entire night of my dorm mates asking me questions about Beauxbatons. They were convinced that everything from the men to the fashion was better in France. After a while I found it easier to just nod and agree, they had more than enough of their own opinions to truly want mine. For the first time ever Jenny was in a different girl's dorm to me, having been selected as Prefect. It wasn't a shock for anybody; her year long absence hadn't affected her grades or popularity.

"Excuse me," said Emma Abbot practically shoving me out of the way of the mirror.

Currently there were five girls stuck in a room with only three mirrors, I had only gotten a glimpse of my face before being banished from the room. I hadn't changed much over the year, dark blue eyes stood out more than ever, framed by black lashes that were set off perfectly by my 'chubby' rosy cheeks. Mother always said I had the looks of my Grand'Mere; all I could remember about the woman was a wrinkled old face and a smile that felt like home.

Not at all bothered that I couldn't fix my hair, it was far too wild anyway, thick black curls that trailed down my back. I grabbed my bag and set off for breakfast, Jenny had to go ahead and help the First Years find their way around, so I walked alone through the corridors.

I had barely begun to worry about the silence around me when a group rounded the corner ahead; the flash of blond hair instantly gave them away. I noticeably stiffened but didn't cower or run away, I had been told in France that the best way to deal with bullies was to ignore or not interact too much, they would eventually lose interest.

"Morning Mudblood, have a nice year away?" sneered Malfoy, looking down his nose at me. Crabbe, Nott and Goyle all sniggered, only one of them stood off to the side observing silently.

"Very nice, thank you," my reply shocked them so much that I was able to slip past. Even Riddle seemed surprised that I didn't instantly burst into tears or run away. I heard footsteps behind me, but didn't walk any faster because of them.

"Seems that the Mudblood has forgotten her place," Grunted Nott.

A hand gripped my upper arm, pushing me into the wall, my back scraping against it. Hissing out a breath of pain, I leaned as far away from the lanky body in front of me as possible. Sadly Malfoy moved to my right and Goyle to my left; leaving Nott holding me in place and the other two watching, one with glee and the other impassively.

"Let me go." I didn't raise my voice or give any indication that I could feel a trickle of blood go down my back, staining my new white shirt.

Nott sniggered, moving closer and crowding me for a totally different reason. Freezing, I tried moving away from the body in front of me, but it just pressed me against the wall harder.

"You know, Mudblood, you haven't turned out half bad." Slightly crooked teeth took up my vision; I was too frightened to move as his hips shoved against mine.

"Nott," one word from pale lips and my lanky tormentor was gone. A slight look of fear on his face, Nott slunk to the side, allowing Riddle to take up all my sight.

I didn't dare move, the look in his eyes scaring me more than anything Nott could have done. Malfoy clenched his fists as he glared at Nott, the crooked toothed boy seemed shocked at the hostility from both of his idols.

"You left without saying goodbye." Clicking his tongue, Riddle stopped about a foot away from me. "I was so very… concerned that something had happened to you; while all this time, you have been in France with your blood traitor boyfriend and his sister."

"Don't talk about them like that!" I surprised even myself with the strength in my voice; the group of Slytherins took a step back, but not because of me.

Riddle's eyes darkened, the blue turning dark red. Gripping my upper arms he shoved me back against the wall again, lips quirking in a snarl when I struggled for a moment.

"Be still," hissed the man in front of me, seeming to take pleasure from the growing fear in my eyes.

I froze, not wanting to antagonize him further. "Excellent, now it seems you have forgotten your place Mudblood." His hand moved from the painful hold on my arm to lightly holding my neck, his thumb lightly tracing over my racing pulse. "You are nothing but vermin in our world, you and all your kind belong where you have always belonged, beneath us."

Nott let out a titter, believing that Riddle meant to give me to him.

Rolling his eyes, Riddle turned his head towards Nott. "Do you want to catch something?" Sneering he looked back at me, "Merlin knows what diseases it has."

His words were so reminiscent of what had been drilled into my head before, that for a second I wasn't seeing Riddle, but a man far crueller.

"Please let me go." My face must have gone very white, for a second he looked confused at my reaction, but then something flashed in his eyes. Before I could stop him his other hand reached for my wrist and felt beneath my uniform, instantly finding the raised skin of where my tattoo lay.

"Well, well, looks like the little Mudblood is a little gypsy." Riddle's posse gave each other confused looks, not having heard about what was going on outside the Wizarding world.

Finally finding my strength I shoved Riddle off me, all the while knowing that he let me. Stepping back he smiled, a flash of white in a demon face.

Biting back tears, I straightened my uniform and picked up my book bag, practically running past the snickering gang and to the Great Hall. I had been strong enough for today.

…

"Well this is torture," growled Jenny, sitting down next to me. I wasn't sure what she meant, having been enjoying the sunlight all around too much to pay attention to anything.

Turning my head, I studied the irate red head. "What do you mean?"

Raising an eyebrow, she tossed her timetable/our timetable at me. Grabbing it I scanned the parchment, it took a second for what I was seeing to sink in.

"Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Defence against the Dark Arts and Herbology all with Slytherin…" Lifelessly I sank back onto the ground, no longer glad I was early for my favourite class. "How did this happen? I thought Ravenclaw is supposed to be with Slytherin."

Jenny kicked up a piece of tuff next to me, making a small hole in the ground. "It was Riddle's idea, he was made Head Boy, can you believe it?!" Riddle as Head Boy, my life had just entered a whole new level of hell. Jenny continued, "He said that the 'relationships' between houses had to be improved. And for some reason he surmised that Slytherin had more of a problem with Hufflepuff than Gryffindor. Is he mad!?"

Before I could answer a refined voice came from behind, "I believe you had your chance to argue my idea, Bones, and your concerns were dismissed."

Startled I shot up, not bothering to brush off the grass that had collected itself on my hair and clothes. Riddle stared down at me, slightly elevated on the hill overlooking the gamekeeper's cottage, looking as bored with me as he usually did. Though this time I noticed the shiny badge pinned to his robes, proudly stating to the world that he was the 'best'.

Jenny was much calmer in standing up, actually taking the time to brush herself off before facing the devil incarnate.

"I believe, Riddle, that we both know the real reason you suddenly decided to start a campaign to 'eradicate ill will' between our houses." She pointed at me, "You want to torture Tony this year. What? Was making her life hell beforehand not enough, now you have to destroy one of the only classes she enjoys!"

Smirking Riddle took his attention from me and stepped close to Jenny, for a moment she faulted but didn't step back. "I would be careful how you speak to me, Bones, I would hate for your family to find out about your little… friend back in France."

Jenny turned pale so quickly I thought for a second she was going to faint, "W—what?

"You didn't think that was a secret, did you?" As he spoke Malfoy slinked out of nowhere to stand next to him, I stiffened even more at having the blond Slytherin near me. "Abraxas has many female friends at Beauxbatons, they like to talk."

"Among other things," chimed in Malfoy, a smug smile on his face, the entire time his eyes never left me.

I wasn't able to stop the disgusted curl of my lip, the idea of our friends at Beauxbatons actually being friendly with Malfoy was enough to make me sick. There was no denying the attractiveness of the blond snake, but he was poisoned ugly through actions, like Riddle was. The blond monster smirked, almost as if he knew what I was thinking. His hand reached up, I flinched instinctively and he frowned for a moment, before plucking a piece of grass from my hair and twirling it between his forefinger and thumb. This woke me up.

"Come on Jenny," grabbing my frozen friends arm, I yanked her away from the dangerous wizards.

Out of ear shot of them, Jenny clung to my arm as we walked down the hill. "They know about Francesca. What am I going to do?" she whispered, sounding more frightened than I had ever heard her sound before.

Around us our Housemates followed the path to Professor Catti's class; I knew they wouldn't bother listening in to our conversation.

"We aren't going to do a thing. Riddle and Malfoy won't want to use this information unless they see an advantage in it, and they won't see an advantage in it unless it hurts me in some way. So you aren't going to help me out this year, no using your Prefect badge to keep them away or argue with Riddle about anything." Jenny looked like she was going to argue, "You and Jeremy have been protecting me for years, and it's my turn to protect you."

She opened her mouth to reply, or probably argue knowing her, but Professor Catti had arrived. He was all rounded edges and walrus moustache, a kind man but ultimately still thought women weren't good for anything but keeping house and having babies.

"Good morning all," he beamed at everybody, "gather round."

The people behind us shoved until Jenny and I were practically in Catti's moustache.

"Excellent. Now, for the next month or so we will be studying the majestic creature known as the Unicorn." Excited whispers broke out between both Houses, "Settle down. Now, our Head Boy made a lovely suggestion that I should separate you into groups to complete this assignment, so would every Hufflepuff please find two Slytherin classmates to work with."

Furious yells broke out, thankfully none came from Jenny.

"Professor, why can't it be one Slytherin with two Hufflepuff?" questioned Elijah Bottworth, one of the only male Hufflepuff in the class. Several of the Slytherins around us rolled their eyes, having already come to the same conclusion as me.

"Because Mr Bottworth, there are far more Slytherins in this class than Hufflepuffs. And Headmaster Dippit wishes to foster more inter-house relations," there were a few blank stares, "We want you to learn to work together," exclaimed Catti with another wide smile.

Despite his words nobody made any effort to move towards a pair of the Snakes, being the first to move might mean you actually liked the smarmy bastards.

"Perhaps Professor, I might suggest who would work best with whom." Said Riddle, my eyes sank shut in despair.

"Excellent suggestion Tom," nearly every Professor called Riddle by his first name, except Professor Dumbledore. "Would everybody please move into the groups suggested by our Head Boy."

People parted for Riddle like he was Moses, even the Hufflepuffs adored him and eagerly awaited command.

"Bones with Crabbe and Nott," giving me a sad smile Jenny moved towards the tall boys, they immediately made room for her between them.

"Bottworth with Parkinson and Black." The two girls gave Bottworth sweet smiles as he stood between them, if anything it made him even more nervous. I suddenly got a feeling that Riddle had planned this from the start.

"Cumber with Snape and Goyle." Cumber was a smallish seventh year with glasses, he looked like he was about to face a Gorgon when he stepped between the thick skulled Goyle and dainty Snape.

"Jackson, Prewitt and Lestrange," the last Hufflepuff before me shuffled towards her two partners, they gave her a seemingly pleasant smile and herded her between them.

And finally, "Zima, Malfoy and of course myself," said Riddle a smirk in the corner of his mouth.

For a second my feet wouldn't move, but Professor Catti frowned at me and I forced my stiff limbs over. I made to stand next to Malfoy, knowing he was the lesser of two evils, but Riddle reached forward and pulled me between them. The tight band his hand made on my wrist stung, I didn't dare tell him to remove it though; he seemed particularly on edge today.

Meekly I stood between the two large Slytherins, Malfoy's cool blue eyes assessing me and Riddle looking straight ahead.

"Well, now that that is all over we will continue with the class," smiling Catti started walking towards the Forbidden Forest, knowing we would follow.

Rather than allowing us Hufflepuffs to congregate again, the Slytherins somehow kept us between them and separated. Riddle and Malfoy both gripped one of my wrists each over my robes, while their Housemates kept control through simpler means. Mainly flirting by the look of it, except with Jenny, although she knew better than to try and get away from her 'partners'.

"Can anybody tell me the lifespan of the common Unicorn?" Professor Catti spoke as we walked. I knew the answer, and usually would have put my hand up, but was trying too hard not to run away to truly concentrate on the class.

Riddle spoke, somehow sounding both bored and knowledgeable at the same time. "Unicorns are known to live from anywhere from one hundred to several thousand years, the healing qualities in their blood making it impossible to tell the exact age of a Unicorn. It is known however, that no Unicorn has ever died of natural causes."

"Well done Tom, although I expect no less from our Head Boy, ten point to Slytherin." Professor Catti stopped just outside a clearing; we weren't very far into the forest. I wondered for a moment what we were doing here; I had only ever seen Unicorns in the middle of the forest.

"Look at that," exclaimed Bottworth; I suddenly understood why we were in the clearing.

Somehow Professor Catti had trapped a Unicorn to one of the trees; he must have used a diamond tether and positioned it just right, to have it not have broken free already. The second the creature noticed us it began to panic, waves of fear rushed over me and I took a step towards it, wishing to somehow free it. The hold on my wrists tightened, a firm warning not to try getting closer.

"Please," with a whisper I beseeched Riddle.

He looked coolly down at me, "You can't do anything for it."

I knew he was right, as the owner of the Diamond tether, only Professor Catti could release the creature.

"I can calm it." Too panicked for the creature to care what I said to Riddle, I again tried to move towards the terrified creature.

Riddle must have made some sort of signal towards Malfoy, because the next second my back was pressed against the Head Boys front and my view was blocked by the blond aristocrats back, he was pressed tightly against me. It became easier for me to control my impulse to help the creature when I couldn't see it, although it was impossible to ignore the hard bodies pressed against me.

"Tom, Abraxus, good to see you trying to protect your fellow classmate, however all students are required to try and 'tame' the Unicorn." Said Professor Catti, hidden from me by Malfoy's wide back.

"Of course sir, Miss Zima seemed so frightened for a moment I thought it best to help." My tormentor sounded so believable that I even sunk back against him for a second, somehow forgetting that his story was a lie.

Professor Catti chuckled, "yes, women often lose control of their emotions when faced with a beast in distress. They are such gentle creatures."

"Indeed sir." I wanted to kick Malfoy in the back of the knees, horrible brown nosing snake.

"Still, Miss Zima will need to go towards the creature."

Riddle made a thoughtful noise; his partner in kidnapping took the hint and moved so I could see. Currently Parkinson was edging towards the wild being; I could see her hand shaking as she moved towards it. A single finger touched its flank and the unicorn went mad, kicking up dirt and trying to stab the Slytherin with his horn. Parkinson made a girly squeak that would make any Beauxbatons teacher proud, and fell back into the dirt. Somehow making an even louder noise when she realized what she had landed in.

"Never mind, Miss Parkinson, I'm sure it will wash out," chimed Professor Catti, motioning a Nott forward to touch the creature.

Parkinson looked like she wanted to hex both the unicorn and Professor Catti for a second, then she looked at Riddle and seemed to instantly calm down. Smiling charmingly she stood and moved towards her group.

Hesitant as the girl before him, Nott edged forward only a single step and glittering hoofs tried to cave his head in.

"Best back up, Mr Nott, sometimes they can be very picky about whom they let touch them." Nott instantly backed up into his group, looking relieved. "It is believed by Muggles that only a 'maiden' may tame a unicorn, a laughable belief." The smug look on professors Catti's face made me want to smack him, how could so many wizards so easily mock Muggle beliefs… "Miss Zima, your turn to tame the wild beast."

I gulped and moved forward, not afraid of the creature but fearful of what I knew it would do, or in my case not do. Slowly, so as not to startle it, I edged forward trying to meet its gaze. Finally the silvery pools met mine, and I smiled. The unicorn froze, to anybody else it might have seemed entranced, but I was somehow feeling its emotions and asking it to be calm.

_Hello ancient one, I am so sorry that you are tied up at the moment, I promise that if you are not released today then I will do it myself when I am able. _

Logically the unicorn couldn't comprehend me; it could no more understand English then I could understand its own language, but he could feel that I meant him no harm.

Now confident, I walked briskly towards the creature, neither of us disturbed by the gasps of Professor Catti. Reaching his side, I ran my hand down his hide, loving the feel of the silky fur. Making a pleased noise, a butting nose met my hand, begging for a scratch. Laughing, I obeyed and ran my hand down his nose and behind his ears.

_I will return if you are not freed._

In answer the unicorn nodded his head; giving one last stroke I moved back towards the group. When I reached Riddle and Malfoy they both gripped a wrist and pulled me between them, moving in even closer than before. I knew that the Head Bot was mad, I wasn't entirely sure why though.

"That was incredible, never have I seen a unicorn warm so quickly to any one student. Well done Miss Zima, twenty points to Hufflepuff." Professor Catti seemed to look at me with something new in his eyes, as if the idea of me actually having a talent had never occurred to him. "I don't say this often to young women, but you might want to think of a career in Care of Magical Creatures, I knew you were skilled at the subject but this is simply amazing." I blushed under all the praise and stares. "I believe that is enough for today, please remember your groups as you will be in them for the remainder of the school term." Students started to gather their bags, "Please have a foot and a half essay on the origin of the Unicorn on my desk before next month, to be completed by the group as a team," he emphasized.

Another thing to love about this class was the easy homework we were all assigned, Professor Catti was a firm believer in 'taking it easy'. More for his sake then ours, I'm sure. In the corner of my eye I watched Jenny take a step towards me, all it took was a firm hand on her shoulder by Nott to stop her. It seemed the Slytherins were intent upon keeping us separate, herding everybody ahead of myself, Riddle and Malfoy up the path and after the retreating Professor.

I took only a step before I was yanked back, "Not yet," hissed Riddle in my ear.

Only a few seconds past and we three were alone in the clearing with the unicorn, who strangely wasn't at all as concerned with my compony as he should be.

"What was that?" Snarling, Riddle backed me towards what I thought was a tree. It was only when it moved that I realized I was literally sandwiched between the Head Boy and his head follower.

"W—what?" frightened beyond belief, I tried to back further into Malfoy; it was like trying to hide in a brick wall.

"Don't play dumb with me, Zima, I know what I saw." He pressed against the front of me; I was so shocked by his willingness to touch me that I didn't cry out for help. "There is something different about you, besides your dirty blood."

Malfoy's chest shook against my back, he was chuckling. I shifted to the side, hoping to slip out from between them. Hands gripped my hips on either side, manicured hands.

"Let me go!" unable to fight the feeling of being trapped, I kicked out against Riddle, hoping to catch him unawares. As if he had expected the move, he caught my leg in one hand, forcing it high and making me nearly drop like a fool if not for Malfoy keeping me standing. Tilted at an odd angle, I tried instead to use my hands to get Riddle away from me. I managed to dig them into the side of his neck before he shoved me back even more into the chest behind me. Apparently sick of my struggling, Riddle shoved something hard into my neck, a wand. I froze, knowing how dangerous and powerful he was. Blood trickled slowly down his neck; my nails had done more damage than I thought.

"It seems that the only way to get you to speak is to trap you. How like the wild animals you love you are." Malfoy's hands tightened around my waist, holding me more securely as Riddle spoke. "Now tell me what you are, and we can avoid the annoyance of me forcing it out of you."

His eyes were cold, a dark blue that seemed almost black. A pain in my leg forced a yelp out, the position it was being held at was too much and a cramp started in my inner thigh.

"Ah," shoving back against Malfoy, more to alleviate the pain then escape the situation, I managed to lower the leg only an inch before Riddle yanked it back up, inadvertently forcing my skirt higher. Making an annoyed noise, Riddle moved his hand to the back of my knee, allowing my leg to bend slightly and stop the worst of the pain.

"Tell me," Riddle's voice was deceptively calm, like anything was before a roaring disaster swept through it.

"I—I'm a witch," the Unicorn stamped its hoofs nearby as if to agree.

Smiling, Riddle dug the wand even deeper into my neck. Whimpering I tried to turn my head, but the sharp point followed me.

"Remember that this was your choice, Gypsy." My tormentor grinned, "_Legilimens_"

A roaring pain ripped through my mind, leaving me breathless and violated. Eyes scrunched shut my body jolted against the strength behind me, but it easily held up under the movements.

I could feel Riddle in my mind, he moved like a snake through my memories, casually flipping away the ones that held no interest for him and replaying the ones that did.

"_**You are nothing but a dirty gypsy," snarling like a dog, Heinz Koch spat on my mother. She didn't move, just stood their calmly and accepted the abuse. All around dirty and shaven women were being treated the same way. **_

_**When she didn't react he gripped my arm, it was tiny compared to his hand, easily breakable. **_

"_**Shall I take your filthy child with me? I know so many ways to make her scream." **_

_**Instantly mama snapped and threw herself at the Heinz, screaming and trying to claw him. **_

_**In the confusion my arm was snapped, I fainted at the pain.**_

Riddle lingered on this memory twice, forcing me to relive the agony and childish fear. He moved on as if it were all of no consequence.

_**Grand'Mere smiled down at me, lifting me into her lap and cuddling me close; the scent of thyme and lavender washing over me. **_

"_**Now, my little one, we mustn't let the words of the Gestapo hurt us. They do not understand our culture; do not understand how special you are." **_

_**My tiny hands fiddled with the folds in Grand'Mere's skirt, "Why am I special." **_

"_**You have a gift," she kissed the top of my head and cuddled me closer, "When you are old enough I will teach you how to use it." **_

Having found the memory he wanted, Riddle moved through the rest, trying to find the one that was connected. But he would never find it; we had been found by the Gestapo a little time later and sent to Dachau. My Grand'Mere died in that camp, the last memories I had of her were of a wasted shell that couldn't control the hacking coughs that eventually choked her. __

Growling Riddle tore himself from my mind; crying out I slumped entirely in Malfoy's arms, my leg was released so the blond bore all my weight.

"You should have told him what he wanted to know, pet." Said a smooth voice behind me, Malfoy shifted me in his arms properly so I wouldn't fall to the ground. I wondered why he bothered. "My Lord always finds out what he wants to…"

_Lord?_

The 'Lord' in question was still fuming in front of us, he seemed to be deciding whether to kill me or not, his wand hand rising and then lowering slightly. Apparently deciding on letting me live, Riddle slipped his wand back into his robes. We stared at each other silently for a moment, the only noise coming from the Unicorn crunching on grass behind us.

"Inconvenient, you don't even know what you are."

Legs wobbling beneath me and head aching, I forced myself to stand; deciding to ignore how glad I was that Malfoy's hands remained around my waist to steady me should I fall.

"I am a witch." I wanted to leap at Riddle when he smirked, smack that smile from his eerily dark face.

"Haven't you ever wondered why you have such skill with Herbology? And why almost any creature you wish to calm is calmed, or tamed…" I flinched, he was correct, I had always been curious as to why I was so good with some things and terrible with others. "It's because, despite you're firm beliefs, you are not actually a witch."

"I—I," Riddle cut me off.

"I have no doubt of your dirty blood, and that magic is somewhere in your line, but it is not in you." He smirked when I finally found the strength to leap at him, only to be stopped by Malfoy's arms. "That isn't nice, I try and help you and you attack me."

"Fuck you!" I yanked against Malfoy, Riddle nodded his head and the arms holding me let up. Unable to stop my propulsion I fell on my face at both their feet, scraping my hands on the twigs beneath me. As if scent of my blood finally alerted the beast near us, the unicorn started snorting and stomping its feet, trying to get closer to me.

Ignoring it, Riddle stared down at me with a sneer. "Witch or not, you will always be beneath us, Zima." He smiled a cold smile, "Make no mistake though, when I find out what you are and decide if you will be of use to me, there will be nowhere you can hide." He turned and walked back towards the castle, Malfoy followed without a glance back.

For a moment I sat stunned on the ground, trying to sort through exactly what Riddle was talking about. If he thought I was some kind of mystical creature he was wrong, I was a witch, a very bad one, but just a witch.

The Unicorn let out a snort, reminding me of my promise.

"Oh," I pushed myself up, the urge to help overcoming any pain I might have felt. Again without fear I stood in front of the dangerous animal, studying the diamond tether keeping it captured. "Do you know how to get this off?" I questioned the unicorn, hoping he had an idea.

Somehow with only a blink in his eyes, I knew that he did. The deadly horn whizzed by my eyes, not a warning but a clue. Up close I could see that the tip of the curling bone was made of something that shone brighter than the chain around his neck, his horn was formed from diamonds.

Shaking my head at my own stupidity, having read that fact several different books, I tested out the tether. It stretched just enough for me to help the horn meet the crystals.

"Sorry," gripping the bottom of the creature's horn, I tilted his head to the side. It must have been painful, but not even a snort was heard. The sharp tip of the bone sliced through the diamond chain like it was nothing, the second it broke the entire length vanished, probably charmed to disappear to Professor Catti the second it was broken.

Giving a happy snort, the unicorn trotted in a circle around me. Laughing I twirled with it, enjoying the play of light off his entire body. Finally he stopped though, tilting his head as though hearing somebody coming. For a second we stared at each other; inclining my head in respected I wished him well in my mind. Then to my shock, the unicorn bowed his head.

_Farewell, young one, we will meet again I hope._

The words flowed into my mind from the unicorn; I was struck dumb for a moment watching him gallop away into the forest.

_Bye?_


	9. Chapter 9

Riddle had somehow orchestrated it so that I was either in a group with him, Malfoy or both of them in every class Hufflepuff shared with Slytherin. Stuck in a deep depression after enduring both the snickers from the Snakes and hisses of jealousy from the female population of my Herbology class, I sunk into a chair in the Great Hall. Jennifer hadn't arrived yet from whatever class she had, so I was sitting alone with great gaps between myself and the other Hufflepuffs. It seemed that the first years had already been told about the need to keep away from me, or suffer the wrath of Slytherin, as a group of them had moved when I sat near. And not a moment too soon, the second I reached for a jug of water it exploded in my hand. Rather than react, being used to this particular trick, I calmly pulled a piece of china from my hand. Grabbing my wand I waved it over my hand, murmuring a small healing spell several times until it worked.

Jeremy had helped me learn that particular one, practicing with me patiently for an age until I finally managed it without injuring myself further.

"_**I'm never going to get this!" exasperated I tossed my wand next to me, watching as Jeremy calmly knitted together the larger cut I had made on his hand with barely a mummer of a spell. "I don't understand why we can't just practice on my hand; people are going to think that I am hurting you on purpose." Already we were garnering some strange looks from others, who were outside also enjoying the fresh air. **_

_**Laughing, Jeremy stole a kiss from me. "We both know you take more care when you try and heal me, if you practiced on yourself you wouldn't care enough to try harder."**_

_**I glared at him beneath my lashes, "do you always have to know me so well?" **_

"_**I will always know you, my little angel, more than you will ever know yourself." He smiled down at me, once again bringing his wand to his palm and non-verbally casting a spell to slice into it. "Now, prove all those watching wrong and heal me." **_

_**Jeremy was right, people were watching. In the background I heard Jenny accepting bets on whether or not I would heal him this time, or blow something up like I had several times before. **_

_**Bitch, I thought fondly. Francesca was standing next to her, calmly watching me. **_

_**Raising my wand, I pointed it at his palm. **_

"_**Repero," I held my breath. The flesh began to twine together until the skin was left far healthier looking then it had been before the cut. **_

"_**She did it." **_

"_**No way." **_

_**Annoyed yells came from the crowd, as Jenny collected her winnings, having bet in my favour. **_

_**Jeremy gripped my chin lightly, pulling my face up and kissing me lightly, "Told you could do it." **_

Lost in a memory, I blindly reached for a bread roll, not even wondering if it had been tampered with. The rich buttery taste brought me back to the present, I didn't bother hiding my shock when the roll didn't try to eat me back or do something equally frightening. In my third year Malfoy cursed a pumpkin to chase me around for Halloween, seeming to take great joy in watching me scream every time the enchanted teeth tried to gobble me up. Even Riddle had cracked a smile, only losing it when Malfoy was given detention for that evening. That result was blamed on me, Riddle cursing me with some terrible stomach pain which meant I missed the evenings feast as well.

At the Teachers table voices were raised, most of the hall turned to watch, myself included.

Professor Catti was almost violently shaking what must be the diamond tether in his hand, gesturing in all directions as he spoke with Headmaster Dippit. A Headmaster who seemed to be barely paying attention, only nodding occasionally to make it appear he cared.

Finally Professor Catti took his seat after not receiving permission to do something from the Headmaster, probably capture another Unicorn. I smiled inwardly at this win, knowing he had little chance of finding another.

I piled potatoes onto my plate, some of the Hufflepuff girls snickered at me, imitating me by puffing up their cheeks. I ignored them; long ago accepting that when not starved I would always have a curvy body that required more food than most.

I could feel somebody watching me more intently then was normal; I risked a glance at the Slytherin table. As per usual many of them were looking at me, only this time in all the males eyes there was an almost curious glint, whereas EVERY female was glaring at me with hatred usually reserved for their times of the month. But those weren't the eyes that burned the most; Riddle and Malfoy were watching me intently.

It was the interest in their eyes that scared me the most, I knew in that moment that I would have to discover exactly what they had been talking about before Riddle found out and forced me to do his bidding.

Determined, I stood, startling a few who had been forced to sit near me as the Hall filled. Grabbing an apple I stormed out of the room. Quicker than I had ever bothered to before I practically ran towards the library, somehow feeling who would be following me soon. I just rounded the corner to the library door when I heard footsteps behind me, slipping inside I was greeted by Madam Flippard.

"No dinner tonight?" She was always suspicious of anybody who was here when they didn't have to.

"Have to get some work done, Care of Magical Creatures." I replied, hopping nervously from foot to foot and hoping she wouldn't force me out of the room.

She smiled though and for a second I could see what she might have been like, had being a librarian apparently require a stern disposition. "Always good to see a student getting a head start. Ah, Mr Malfoy must be Miss Zima's group partner."

I froze, finally noticing the heat radiating from behind me. Fingers curled around my neck, softer than anything I had felt before. But then it made sense that Malfoy had soft hands. That was generally what happened when one had everything given to them and done for them.

"Yes, we thought it best to get our homework done early. Head start and all that," he must have flashed an extra charming smile, because Madam Flippard smiled even more.

"Well enjoy your evening, Mr Malfoy, do tell your mother I say hello." The Librarian nodded her head at us, and walked out the door.

Ignoring Malfoy, I stormed over towards my favourite section. Deciding that if I were to figure out what I was, it would probably be in this section. I knew I was followed over there, but didn't care to acknowledge the arrogant snake.

Fingers tracing over the books, I selected several I hadn't read before. With 'Mystical Beasts and their Ancestors', 'What Creature is it?' and a rather strange one 'Beasts and their Mates', I sat down on the window sill, the cushions softening my angry movements. To my chagrin Malfoy sat down next to me, his thigh alongside mine. Determined to pretend he wasn't there, even though he might curse me at any moment, I opened the first book 'Mythical Beasts and their Ancestors'.

"You won't find anything in there, "teased Malfoy, snatching the book from my hands and tossing it perfectly onto a nearby table.

Clenching my teeth, I grabbed the next one and opened it. Skimming over a few passages in 'What Creature is it', it had little on humanoid beasts though and seemed to mainly focus on Nymphs and Mermaids when it did.

"Not that one either," the devil next to me flung that one away as well, leaving me with only one choice.

I touched the leather bound cover carefully; it was a much older volume than the rest. The leather front depicted a woman being mounted by a Minotaur; her face was covered by a vine so it was impossible to see her expression.

"Did you know that every mythical creature has its own mate?" Queried Malfoy, settling back on the comfy seat. Apparently he was willing to let me read this one. "Some people believe that wizards and witches also have 'mates', an interesting concept but only ever proven if said witch or wizard has some sort of mystical ancestor."

I opened the first page, only partially listening to my tormentor. The image of the Maiden and the Minotaur appeared again, only this time her face was uncovered and seemed to be rapturous in its joy. Blushing, I turned the page and tried to concentrate on the writing, but my 'partner' kept talking.

"It's a rather unfair life a Minotaur lives. Cursed by some 'god' to be forever alone and undesirable." Next to me, he flicked his hair back from clear blue eyes; one thing was certain, Malfoy would never be alone. "They were once wizards, turned into foul beasts so as they cannot bed or mate with another willing female again. But they used their hideous visage to their advantage, convincing Muggles that they were themselves gods or demons, ones who demanded sacrifice." I had stopped trying to read the book, watching Malfoy speak though the corner of my eyes. "So, of course, the small minded Muggles gave them sacrifices of food and wealth. But that wasn't enough, because even beasts have desires." He met my gaze, "they demanded virgin sacrifices."

"W—what did the Muggles do?" I could already sense the horrible answer.

"They gave them. Young females, old females, it didn't really matter so long as they were virgins." Eyes hooded, Malfoy shifted closer, I hardly noticed. "Soon though, the Minotaur's got tired of simply being handed their prey, so they used what little magic they had to create great mazes, the centre of which was their home. And they told the sacrifices that if they could make it to the other side without being caught, then they were free to go."

"Nobody got to the other side, did they?" I whispered, knowing that I looked both horrified and entranced. Malfoy's voice was deep and smooth; my eyes were becoming drowsy despite my efforts.

He smiled, perfect teeth set in a cold face. "No, the Minotaur's took them all, keeping harems of great size."

Now I was confused… "They didn't kill them?"

"Why kill something that can still bring you pleasure or entertainment?" Malfoy tilted his head, staring far too much at me for me to be comfortable.

"Oh," hands shaking I turned the page and kept studying it. Next to me Malfoy picked up one of the tossed away books, thumbing through it slowly. "Why did you follow me?" It was too hard to concentrate when I kept expecting a curse to fly at my face.

"You know the answer to that," he gave me a patronizing smile.

Hands shaking slightly, I laid the book on the table in front of me. "Riddle doesn't want me to find out what I am before he does?" I rushed to add, "Even though I am a witch, despite what you both believe."

Tapping his nose, Malfoy placed his book down as well. "That and he is furious that you released that unicorn and wanted me to keep an eye on you until he has finished Head duties and can properly… reprimand you."

I glanced at the door, relieved to see it was still clear of people and I might be able to slip out if I could disarm the man next to me. Said man let out a sigh and slipped his hand into my robes pocket, grabbing my wand and slipping it into his own pocket before I could stop him.

"Give that back," frightened I made to grab it. Malfoy caught my wrists in one hand, holding them together and pulling me closer. I was now half leaning over the aristocrat; grabbing the curtains that would hide us from sight, he pulled them shut.

"_Silencio_," my words were sucked back into me before I could even properly scream. Looking far too amused, Malfoy brushed my wild hair away from my face. I tried to bite him, missing by mere inches. Laughing he snapped his hand back, "my, what a wild Mudblood you are." He gipped my chin hard, leaving instant marks. "Nott was correct; you have forgotten your place."

Face flushing red in fury; I slammed my head as hard as possible into his stomach. Letting out a huff of air, Malfoy lost his grip on me. Scrambling up I kicked him in the shin before darting out from the curtains, and practically bolted towards the door, hearing muffled curses behind me.

"No running in the lib—" missing the rest of Madam Flippard's warning, I darted around the door.

Like clockwork Riddle walked around the corner just as I fell out of the library door, we stood frozen staring at each other for a moment, then both moved. Riddle to get his wand, and me to run in the other direction. A blue curse flew past my head just as I reached the corner, it smashed into the wall, leaving a deep grove behind.

Where my feet carried me my mind didn't know, all I knew was to escape Riddle and I didn't have enough time to think about where to hide considering he was blocking the way to the Hufflepuff common rooms. The halls empty because of dinner time, I didn't have to worry about bumping into anyone. But then again I wouldn't need to run if people were around, the Head Boy wouldn't risk his reputation cursing me if somebody witnessed it and reported him. Running footsteps came from behind me; Malfoy must have recovered from his injuries.

About to turn another corner and pray somebody was there, a door appeared on the wall next to me. Skidding to a halt, I risked a glance behind me. Both men were rounding the corner; my eyes met Riddle's just as I opened the door and darted inside. He looked angrier than I had ever seen.

Slamming the door I waited with my body pressed against it for them to try and push it down, but nothing happened. Hesitantly I released it, and again nobody stormed through or blew it off the hinges. The door creaked open when I dared test it, I was shocked to see that instead of being on the first floor I was now on the third. A quick glance behind me confirmed that the room was just a simple broom closet, neater than average yes, but not in any way special looking.

_Thank you Hogwarts!_

The Castle truly was a blessing. I only had to walk a few steps to reach the Hufflepuff common room entrance, the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff smiled down at me.

"Password dear?" asked Helga.

Panting a little, I blurted out "friendship," apparently Malfoy's curse had worn off.

She smiled brightly, instantly making me smile in return. "Have a nice night dear," she swung open.

Most people assumed that the Hufflepuff common room was all yellow and black, that wasn't true. Sure the carpets were in an oriental pattern using those colours; but we have giant brown couches, chairs and desks to do homework on or socialize. At the moment there were only a few Hufflepuffs in the room, the second they saw me they immediately threw their bags onto the chairs next to them. Ignoring the hurt in my stomach, I trudged up the stairs to my room. I wasn't surprised to see that the room had already been split into two sections, the section of the popular girls who only spoke to me when they wanted to know something and the section of the 'losers' AKA Jenny and myself.

Emma Abbot glared at me from her bed, before turning away and continuing to file her nails. Jessica and Isabelle were slightly kinder, giving me small smiles before closing their curtains.

"Tony!" Jenny practically jumped out of her bed, "Where have you been?"

Giving her a sad smile, I allowed myself to be dragged onto her bed. Before I had to ask her Jenny closed her curtains and cast '_Silencio_', giving us some privacy.

"Riddle and Malfoy decided it would be fun to torture me more, apparently they have gotten even better at mind games." I flopped down onto her pillows, Jenny stayed seated and seething.

"Those slimy bastards, you know they have managed to pair you with them in all of your classes! Stuck me with that rotten Nott in most of mine too," her fists clenched "what are they playing at?"

My stomach plummeted, every class? "I only knew about Potions, Magical Creatures and Herbology... How did he manage to get us paired in every joint class!?"

She gave me a sad look, "Riddle convinced Headmaster Dippit that Hufflepuff and Slytherin relations are causing too many disputes and fights." I already knew this, "and then he pointed out, like with Catti, that he as 'Head Boy' knew which relationships needed the most work."

"I—I thought I would only have to endure working with them in a few of our classes, but every class." I must have looked desperate; Jenny grabbed my hands and pulled me up.

"You listen up, Zima. You have endured far worse than a few boys and their mind games, what did they tell you anyway?"

I contemplated not telling her, but then two heads were better than one. "Riddle doesn't think I am a Witch," she made to scoff but I cut her off, "no, listen. I hate to say it but a lot of what he says makes sense, I mean I can't even do simple spells, but I can charm animals and grow just about anything faster than it should be able to grow…"

"Don't be stupid, Tony. Do you think Dumbledore would have given you a scholarship if he thought you weren't a Witch?"

I had considered this, "What if this 'other side' of me, is just more powerful than the Witch side?"

"Do you have any history of magic in the family?" I looked guiltily to the side, "Tony?"

"My Grand'Mere used to be able to make things happen…" I remembered back, "Whenever the weather got bad or we couldn't afford to eat, she would leave and come back with a basketful of fruits and vegetables. It was only after the Gestapo put us into that barren camp, that she lost the strength to help us anymore."

Jenny gripped my hand, hearing the wavering in my voice. "So, do you suppose she was a Witch?" she looked excited for a moment, "do you think you might not be a Muggleborn?! If you're not, then Riddle and Malfoy's insults mean nothing, not that they don't already mean less than what comes out of a dogs bottom."

"I don't think she was a witch, I think she was something… else."

"What then?"

"I don't know, but I know animals used to love her and people brought their pets for her to heal. I always assumed it was just herbs and luck that helped us and those animals, but with what Riddle is saying I can't help wonder—"

She finished, "if you are the same as her."

"Exactly, can you help me find out? I mean, we will have to look separately, Riddle won't keep quiet about Francesca if he sees you investigating with me."

Jenny's eyes hardened, "That bastard won't even know I'm around…Why do you want to know so badly, you always seemed content with the knowledge you were just a horrible Witch." She didn't mean it as an insult, or a joke, it was simply a fact.

"If Riddle finds out before I do, and figures out if I am useful to him, then I don't even want to think about what he will do to force me to work for him." My mind was whirling fast, "But if I find out first, then I can hide anything in my nature that might alert him to the truth."

My best friend smiled, and for a second I was looking at Jeremy. My heart hurt for a moment, I missed him more than I thought possible.

"Don't worry, we'll find it out."

Jenny and I both giggled; actually a little excited at the idea I was something more than human, something that wasn't useless.


	10. Chapter 10

"You want me to what!?" I exclaimed, glaring at Jenny across the table.

"Shhh, keep it down Tony, do you want you-know-who to find out about everything?"

I slammed a hand over my mouth, and risked a glance at the men in question. Both seemed uninterested in everything around them, adopting bored sneers and eye rolling at their Housemates antics. The Great Hall was filled with students; everybody seemed particularly rowdy today, probably had something to do with the Hogsmeade trip planned for tomorrow.

"Now," Jenny leaned closer, "we need my brother in on this."

"Why, I don't want him involved in this, he might get hurt." My worry wasn't only for his safety, but his future. "Plus having him steal books isn't the greatest way to help his career."

She flicked a hand, dismissing the worry. "He hates that job anyway; they won't let him transfer to healing because he is too damned good at smoozing money from rich, old benefactors. Let him help us, Tony, he is worried about you."

I supposed he had a right, Jenny and I had been so wrapped in studying up on mythical creatures and legends for the last few weeks, I had been forgetting to reply to his Owls.

"Look, I'm not saying we involve him in the fright storm that is the Head Boy and his butt-buddy, but he would appreciate at least feeling included."

Sighing, I knew she had a point; I had been a shitty girlfriend lately and certainly didn't deserve somebody as lovely as Jeremy. "Ok, but he doesn't get to know our suspicions about my heritage."

"Deal," she smiled smugly, "I'll send an Owl asking for the books this afternoon."

The books were rather obscure texts that investigated the legends surrounding Veela (we knew I wasn't one, but they did have some interesting characteristics I shared), Nymphs and Succubi. All of the above creatures were the only ones we couldn't find a great deal of information on; we wanted to read the books to narrow the possibilities of my heritage.

I had written a letter to my mother asking about Grand'Mere and her 'gifts', but I never received a reply. This wasn't a surprise, whenever I bought up the woman who helped raise me; mother froze up and refused to leave her room for a few days.

The morning chime rang out, a first warning to finish up and move onto classes. Today was just another day Jenny and I didn't have classes together, and I did have them with people who hated and hunted me.

For the past three weeks I had nearly run into my two tormentors everywhere outside of class, I might have thought they were following me but they were almost always in a group or with some girl hanging off of them. I had received a rather nasty pus hex off Parkinson, when I accidentally walked into her and Malfoy when they were necking around a corner. I had tried to point out that in plain view and in the direct path of students wasn't the best place to neck-on, but that had only made Malfoy laugh, a deep sound that caused a scary shiver down my spine. From then on I had taken to making wide spaces around corners, and good thing to because the next day I walked past Malfoy once again necking on with a blond Ravenclaw in the same spot. He just smirked at me as I passed. I didn't see him there again.

"Wake up," Jenny clicked her fingers in front of my face. "Second bell went; you're going to be late for class."

Cursing I looked around; almost all the students were gone. Grabbing my bag up, I ran for the exit, nearly tripping up twice in my haste. I had learned long ago the quickest way to potions class, utilizing this knowledge I had nearly made it to the last two steps down there when my feet slipped up and I landed hard at the bottom of the landing. My knees scraped on the ground, but my hands took the blunt of the fall, skin ripping off.

Hissing, I cradled my hands, they looked like somebody had taken a cheese grater to them.

"Watch where you're going, Mudbitch." Snarled a winy voice, Parkinson stepped over my prone form, her lackeys following. Gideon Blacks sister Wallubra kicked my side; I didn't really feel it over the sting in my hands.

"Filthy creature," Wallubra was barely fourteen years old; it broke my heart to see so much hate in somebody so young.

Rather than stay and plague me for my clumsiness, they stormed off up the stairs and to their classes. Only once they were gone did I drag myself up, I grabbed my wand out and cleaned my hands as best I could. Pocketing the wand, that still felt wrong after Malfoy finally retuned it after a week of me trying to explain the loss of it to my teachers. It hurt me that most of them simply smiled at me like I was a simpleton and patted me on the head saying, 'not like it will change much'. That had made the students laugh even more.

I walked into the potions classroom; it always seemed far too bright in here to be in the dungeon. But then Professor Slughorn was quite a jovial man considering he was the Head of the Slytherin house. When he saw me he waved me to my seat, noticing my bloody hands and legs.

"Oh no, Miss Zima, fall over again?" the class tittered as I took my seat, "Never mind, just get your partner to cast a healing and cleaning spell." He was probably right to get my 'partner' to help me.

I silently took my seat next to Riddle; he smiled at me (for the benefit of the Professor) and held out his hand. Hesitantly I lay mine in it, curling warmth came from out joined limbs and I realized that this was the first time he had ever touched my skin. Looking at his face I saw him frown at the connection, probably regretting that he had to touch me. But without saying a word Riddle waved his wand over the half-healed mess I had made of them, totally cleansing them of blood. He did the same on the other hand, releasing me as quickly as possible.

"Excellent display of non-verbal spells, Tom, ten points to Slytherin. And Miss Zima, do try to be more careful when walking the stairs, they move remember." All the teachers treated me with patronizing kindness (except Professor Dumbledore), not actually realizing that they were insulting my intelligence.

"Yes, Professor," I replied, staring at my partially healed hands.

"Good girl, now, today we are brewing the potion known to replenish blood loss. Madam Jolly has been running out," he gave me a pointed stare and smile, "Please follow the directions to the letter."

Waving his wand at the blackboard, words started appearing. Before I could make heads or tails of it Riddle was already dragging me to the store room, this time making sure not to touch my skin.

"I wasn't done reading that."

He gave an annoyed snort, "If I wait for you I will never get this potion finished." Shoving me inside he closed the door behind him, for a second I felt trapped, but then remembered the students just outside the thin wood.

Riddle stared at me for a moment, then at my knees. Rolling his eyes he hunched down in front of me, I jumped back nearly to the other side of the room.

"What are you doing!?" I squeaked, unable to shift back further as he moved down in front of me again.

"I can practically smell the blood coming from your knees. And disgusting though it is, I have to be at least this close to heal you, otherwise you might contaminate the potion." He gripped the bottom of my knee length skirt and drew it up; I was in too much shock to stop him. "Hold this," automatically I took the skirts, "why didn't you heal your knees… or do whatever it is you call healing."

He meant my botch job with my hands; I didn't think I had done too bad considering. "I—I only had enough magic to fix one thing."

Snorting Riddle turned my palm so he could see it, "You call this healing?" he ran a finger along the skin that would certainly scar. "Now, don't move."

Once again he brought out his wand. I concentrated on the warmth of where our skin met, taking advantage of the distraction.

"_Oculous healios_", I felt only a small twinge and knew I was healed, probably looked like nothing had ever happened. Riddle moved to the other knee, doing the same with the same clean result.

"Thanks," I mumbled dropping my skirt back into place.

Riddle sneered at me as he stood, gripping the front of my shirt and shoving me against a bookcase. The jars of ingredients threatened to fall, but thankfully didn't. "Don't mistake this for any kindness towards you, you're nothing." He released me. Moving over to the shelf he started passing me ingredients, I took them without question. Riddle was easier to deal with when he was the one hurting me, not healing me. Forcing me to hold everything, he stormed out of the cupboard as other students started coming in. Some gave me strange looks, most of the girls just glared; ignoring all I plonked back down on my chair and put the ingredients into nice little piles. Next to me the Head Boy was fuming over a boiling cauldron, occasionally stirring.

This was the part I loved in Potions class, I could always tell which plants or herbs I had helped grow. Just by touching them I felt more connected with the nature around me, almost like I was out in some forest, and not stuck beneath the ground in a dank room with a psychotic 'partner'. Out of this batch I could sense my care in the flaxseed, moon root and blood bark. Rather than go into the forest to collect it, Professor Catti had us grow our own miniature Blood Trees and harvest them. For some reason my miniature turned into a giant tree, and was now a permanent fixture just outside the Gamekeepers cottage. The young Gamekeeper Hagrid, who I still felt horribly guilty about every time I saw him, was especially fond of the tree. He watered it often; I didn't have the heart to tell him it didn't feed off water, but moonlight.

"Blood Bark," Riddle held out his hand, so I have him it. He growled when he got it, "You're supposed to strip it."

"I didn't want to hurt it." There wasn't any point in hiding my connection to wildlife and plants from him, it just made Riddle angrier at me.

Scoffing he stripped it himself, I blocked out the screaming I heard when he plopped it into the cauldron. I would have probably been good at potions had I not hated hurting the plants, it was just too much for me and everybody knew it. In my first year I had gone into a fit, tipping over every cauldron, trying to save the screaming plants.

Since then Professor Slughorn had made sure I had nothing to do with the actual brewing, just the collecting and the organising. He let me pass mostly out of pity.

"Just, sit." He pointed to my chair; I took the seat without argument, happy to not have to hurt anything directly. "So what have you found out?"

Startled I looked up at Riddle, he seemed pretty interested in the potion, but I could practically feel how tuned into our conversation he was.

"Nothing," I mumbled, suddenly fascinated with my fingernails. Riddle hadn't questioned me on my heritage since that day with the Unicorn; he hadn't even punished me for freeing it yet.

"Liar. You think we don't have people in Hufflepuff, those who want more than to become broodmares for the Pureblood's beliefs? They will eventually do their duty, but for the moment they are mine to command and then their husbands will command them to do my will regardless in the end."

"You're a monster." Hissing I turned from him, glaring at the blackboard. "And I will never tell you anything."

"No matter, I don't need you to tell me, your boyfriend will." He spat out the word, like the idea of me and Jeremy was abhorrent to him.

I turned back to Riddle, "Jeremy would never help you! He is good and kind, everything you are not."

Our seating arrangements were to the far left, so nobody could really see what we were doing and Professor Slughorn was busy eating something yellow in his chair.

Arrogantly, the Head Boy stared down at me, for a second I cursed my short stature. "Jeremy Bones is weak, and what do weak men do?" he waited a second, "they follow the strong."

"He isn't weak." I tried to sound strong, but doubt wavered in my voice. What if Jeremy was helping Riddle, and we had just asked him for the three things that could help me figure out what I was…

Riddle chuckled, adding the last ingredient and stirring confidently, not even needing to watch. "I suppose we will find out in the next few days who Jeremy is loyal to, who he will send the books to."

I looked like a gaping fish for a moment, exactly how long had Riddle been allowing Jenny and I to do the grunt work and eliminate possible creature after possible creature. While all the while he watched from the sidelines?

"Don't worry though, Zima, I'm sure Jeremy will send you a sweet letter about how he misses you and longs to move back to England. And then a quick little sidenote about how he couldn't find the books, and hopes you find what you are looking for." He smiled an evil smile, "don't be sad though. I'll be sure to tell you what lies dormant in your blood, after I decide if it's useful or not to me."

With that Riddle bottled up the potion and handed it over to Professor at the front of the classroom. He walked back and started packing up his books, not honouring me with even a glance.

"See you in the library before dinner; it's time to work on the project for Care of Magical Creatures. I am so very curious to figure out exactly how a unicorn escaped its bonds without assistance. Oh, and enjoy Defence against the Dark Arts with Malfoy."


	11. Chapter 11

Malfoy hadn't been present of Defence against the Dark Arts, a blessing as well as a curse. I was now jumping at every noise, the only reason I could think he would miss that class was because he was planning something horrible…

"Miss Zima?"

Shrieking I spun around, Professor Dumbledore was standing behind me. I took a quick look around before breathing a sigh of relief; no Snakes or students of any kind walking around.

"Professor?" A relieved hand over my heart, I smiled at one of the only people who ever believed in me. Even though I was equally terrible at Transfiguration as any other magical based class, Professor Dumbledore never gave up on me like the other teaches.

"I do apologise," his eyes twinkled in a unique way that always set me at ease, "I simply wished to inquire about how you are fitting in again?"

He motioned towards the library, obviously realizing where I was heading. Following next to him, it took me a second to find the right words.

"I loved Beauxbatons, the people and the classes…" I trailed off awkwardly, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the Scholarship he had given me.

"You miss it?"

Puffing out a breath I nodded, "yes. Everything about it actually, but I am glad to be back at Hogwarts." If for no other reason than I missed the scenery, nothing compared to the mountains and lakes.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, all too soon we arrived at the library and I knew I had lost my protection.

"You know, Miss Zima, you can always trust me to help you however I can." He stopped outside the giant wooden door; the low torches reflected only a glimmer of his red hair. Inside the room, we could see both Riddle and Malfoy leaning against Madam Flippand's desk. The low light that so complemented most people, made them seem all the more sinister; all sharp cheekbones and dark eyes.

"I know Professor." I gave him a sad smile, wishing I could pretend that all was well. "My mother sends her greetings."

Professor Dumbledore's lips tweaked, he and my mother shared a fondness for Muggle candy. Over Christmas she sent him some lemon drops.

"I shall endeavour to send her another book then." They had a strange friendship, candy in exchange for knowledge on the Wizarding world. "Goodnight, Antoinette."

Giving him a small wave, I walked into the large room. It wasn't so long ago that I found solace in here, now it was simply another place my tormentors could track me down to. A creak sounded from behind, the door closing magically. Riddle and Malfoy didn't move from there spot, intending for me to go to them.

Pointing my nose in the air, a weak imitation of Parkinson, I hurried past them. The scent of trees and dank forests swam through my senses.

Moving to the very back of the library, near the restricted section, I walked straight to the section on Unicorns. Unlike most mythical and magical creatures, Unicorns were found in the potions section. Their body parts had such value in potions that it basically trumped any value they might have as something one viewed as a simple but majestic magical creature.

"I wonder if your kind is in this section," Malfoy's footsteps sounded behind, "are you something we can brew up in a potion and make useful?" I didn't need to turn around to know that Riddle was close behind, as always I had the uncanny sense of wanting to run whenever he was near.

Lifting my bag onto a table, choosing at the end of the table I sat down and dragged my bag closer.

"I apologise for missing our class together, I was detained." Malfoy sounded so sincere for a moment that I actually looked up, but there was nothing about him that hinted at the actual reason. "We have been getting along so well, I always enjoy Defence against the Dark Arts now. Much more interesting than before, one feels so much safer when partnered with a duelling partner who cannot duel."

Glaring back at my bag, I furiously searched for parchment and a quill. Every embarrassing moment of being flung across the room in DADA rushed back, having the class laugh at me and the teacher furiously describe the spell for a shield again. Two chairs were pulled out either side of me; both men took their seats after dropping their bags loudly on the table.

Finding what I was looking for I made ready to write. "I thought I might write the introduction, then you two can work on the body and finally I—or one of you—will write the conclusion."

Malfoy chuckled, making no move to get out any parchment. "Riddle wrote the essay and handed it in days ago."

I froze, the quill in my hand nearly snapping. "So why am I here?" voice shaking, I looked up at them both. Malfoy had an amused smiled on his face, while Riddle's lip curling was the only warning I got.

"_Confundus_", the light hit me in the face. Instantly my mind became a jumbled mess, unable to even sit straight I slumped to the side. "Grab her," arms lifted me from my chair.

"Wha—tis—this?" my words barely made sense, but then I hardly knew what was going on.

Malfoy lifted me higher into his arms, tucking my head against his neck. "Just a confusion spell, little Mudblood."

Everything around me went all spinney, we were moving. Bookcases seemed to flash past me at a rate too fast to be possible; surly we were on the other side of the country now?

"Are you sure she won't be found, my Lord?" The strange blond blob holding me asked that of the black blob, a bubble of fear rose in my throat when I realized that the black blob had red eyes.

It made an annoyed noise, stopping for a moment and slamming a hand over my mouth.

"Quite, Gypsy, or I'll truly give you something to cry about." Whimpering even more I huddled close to the blond blob, "shut her up, Malfoy. And nobody will find her, of that I'm certain."

"Hush," the blob holding me tucked my head further into his neck and for some reason the smell instantly comforted me. Giving a contented mummer, I huddled closer.

We walked for what felt like some time, my vision was filled with funny looking pipes and dark smelly rooms. Finally though we seemed to stop, it took me a moment to realize we must have arrived at the strange blobs home.

"Should I use the counter-curse, my Lord?" the blond blob laid me down on something hard and concrete, I immediately missed the warmth his body provided.

"_Purgare_." The black blob said the words, and suddenly I recognized everything around me again.

The room they had taken me to was as dismal as I had ever imagined the Slytherin dungeon to be, but it was clearly worse than that. A medium sized room with no more than a concrete slab and an old drain in it; grime dripped from the walls and I could smell something rotting.

Then men who had taken me here wore different expressions, one cool amusement and the other distinct pleasure. The later man took a step forward; I instantly screamed and scrambled back.

"Please, somebody help me!" my captors seemed content to let me scream, meaning they had either silenced the room, or I was somewhere that nobody would dare go. I drew my wand, my hand shaking so badly that it almost dropped from it. I pointed it at Riddle, "Wh—where am I?"

He sneered, giving the room a bored glance over. "Your new home, don't worry though, it will only be for a night or two. Consider this your punishment for freeing that Unicorn, oh, and for being a disgusting Mudblood in the first place."

"You can't! Somebody will realize I am gone, and you—you will be exposed." I nervously lowered my hand, knowing I couldn't actually curse them anyway.

Malfoy stormed forward this time, snatching my wand from me and crowding me at the same time. "You don't get it, do you? Even if by some chance somebody notices you are gone, and they send out a search party and happen to find you. Nobody would believe it was us, they would all trust our belief that you must have accidentally locked yourself in here. And then if that fails, we can always threaten to tell everybody about Miss Bones's secret, I don't think they condemn women for that these days, but I'm sure a word from me would change anybody's mind…"

My body knew I was truly trapped before my mind did, tears spilling out onto my cheeks before I knew what they were for. "I'll freeze down here. Why aren't you just cursing me, isn't such a 'Muggle' method of torture beneath you?"

Warm hands cupped my cheeks and wiped away the tears, the second he touched me Malfoy's eyes seemed to calm, seeming in almost a daze he stroked his thumbs along my cheekbones. "Who says you won't be cursed, and besides, a Muggle torture for a Mudblood seemed fitting."

"Please." Voice broken I wrapped my arms around my waist, already feeling the chill in the room. Giving me a sad smile, Malfoy caressed my cheek one last time and moved away. Riddle had moved closer during my begging; probably wanting to hear the words clearer, to better get satisfaction from them.

Slowly, as though he were in no real rush, Riddle pointed his wand at me. Hair falling haphazardly over his eye, I thought for a second that he was an angel here to save me, then reality set in.

"_Crucio_."

One word, spoken so softly that I strained to hear it before a light hit me. Shrieking my legs collapsed out from under me and collapsed to the ground, my body contorting in unnatural ways as the sensations of being drowned, stabbed and burned alive all hit me at once. There was a faint popping sound and a tiny flash of pain in my shoulder, I hardly noticed it over the rest. My spine curled inward and the rest of me followed the movement into a foetal position

Finally though the curse was lifted, my teeth unclenched and blood spurted in my mouth, I had bitted into my tongue.

"Again?" my sobbing was the only reply I could give the evil man, "yes I think so."

I managed to scream once before the light hit me again, this time my entire body seized up, hardly moving as I was electrocuted, stretched beyond what was humanly possible and bitten by a thousand ants a million times.

When it finally let up I was silent, my throat too raw to scream and eyes almost to pain filled to hold open. Footsteps came near to me, something in me revolted and tried to move away. It was then I noticed the dislocated shoulders, both had popped from place with my movements.

"That was quite a severe reaction." Hands turned me onto my back despite my cries, both Malfoy and Riddle hunched down above me. "Should we leave her here? She might not survive the night."

Riddle's eye brow rose at Malfoy's question, "you want her to live."

The blond rolled his eyes, "You don't, My Lord?" the last was added hastily, as Riddle's eyes flashed a dangerous red.

Fingertips touched my lip, smearing the blood along them. Both men watched the movement, their eyes not leaving my face.

"Please," the word was whispered around the finger, almost kiss in blood.

"Hmm," my torturer removed his finger, apparently not bothered by my 'dirty' blood now. "You're right, she won't survive, weak thing that she is." He smiled, and a part of me wanted to slap the smile away. "Hopefully the curse won't damage her memory, and she will remember this room, for anytime she disobeys me this will be her home."

If he was waiting for assent he would never get it, my body was in too much pain to even nod or think about the future.

"We can't take her to the infirmary, even that Mediwitch isn't dumb enough to not recognize the Cruciatus curse's symptoms." Riddle made a noise of assent at Malfoy's words, "where do we hide a Mudblood Gypsy then?"

Above me the men smirked, apparently coming to the same idea.

"Hold her still for a moment," Malfoy instantly gripped my waist, "_Pompo_." My body bowed as both shoulder joints popped back into place, the first real scream in a while left my throat. Riddle shushed me, his hand pushing my sweaty hair back from my face. "Hush now, Gypsy, your punishment is over."

He stood and motioned to the man still kneeling; again Malfoy lifted me into his arms, my weight not even causing a grunt to pass his lips.

"Look at me," said Riddle; I refused to remove my eyes from the ceiling. "Antoinette, look at me."

It might have been the shock of him actually saying my name, or that I just didn't want any more pain, but I looked at my torturer. "Good girl, now, _Imperio_."

Any pain and fear that I was feeling melted away, my eyes sunk to half mask and I dazed dreamily into Riddle's eyes.

_**Now, you aren't going to make a noise in the corridors, are you?**_

_No, why an earth would I want to make any noise, everything is so lovely at the moment._

_**Yes it is, and if anybody sees you, you will tell them that you are fine and lucky to be being looked after by such nice classmates.**_

_Am I lucky?_

Riddle's hand ran down my cheek, _**very lucky. Now hush, close your eyes and pretend to be asleep, we are playing a game. **_

_Game? I love games, I'll play._

Still smiling I closed my eyes, but not before softly kissing the palm of the hand that touched me. A soft inhale of air was the only response I got, but I neither cared nor knew who it came from. I was busy playing a game, I loved games.

**Phew, took me a bit to write all those chapters. Hope you enjoy them and please feel free to review with any questions, queries or complaints (constructive)**

**Xoxo**

**Future**


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